Brian's Web log

Sept 30, 2004 Quit Bugging Me Topic #18 - Schedules Okay. So...I had a dry spell there. This is actually how my journals turn out. Lots of info, some big event gets me all excited, then...I have to mow the lawn, I have to pain the fence, honey could you stop by the post office and BAM. It's 8 months later. There are still plenty of reasons to be angry, but once you get a few things off your chest, you feel less hostile. So let's not get too upset. If this is your first visit, you probably won't even notice. It'll just look continuous, right?

Feb 20, 2004 Quit Bugging Me Topic #17 - More Reason to be angry What mother would shove her child's hand in a blender? What human would set a baby in a tub full of leeches, or put a little kid in a crib crawling with hungry rats? People do as much every day and here's who they are: The same sons-of-bitches who would toss their kids in back of the car and light up a smoke. It's the same active abuse that I see every damn day. Why is this tolerated?! We issue fines for speeding, driving drunk, leaving a child unattended in a car, and even a spanking can get a child removed from a situation. How is smoking any different? It's worse. How is it that lacing a child's lungs with tar and nicotine and countless other poisons is completely ignored? Damn it, people! You're killing your own children! What the hell is wrong with you?! The defenseless, innocent, trusting little creatures get their pink little lungs destroyed by the very people who's job it is to protect and nurture them. What benefit could possibly worth the destruction of your child's health? Only a selfish, cruel, delusional person would even do this to himself. How loathsome and infuriating that someone would to this to a child. P.S. That goes for you idiots who smoke in public, too. Thanks for courtesy.

January 23, 2004 Quit Bugging Me Topic #16 - Reason to be angry What is it that is so upsetting about the attacks of September 11, 2001? The willful destruction of a national icon? The dangers of fanaticism? For me, it's the willful destruction of human life. Officially, 2,749 lives were taken that notorious day. And for what? To prove a point? To intimidate? The entire country still mourns. With that in mind... Every year the equivalent of 20 separate September 11th attacks occur when 50,000 people die from smoking related illnesses. And for what? Nothing special. Just plain, old money. And the world largely ignores it. It's time to be far more upset about smoking. It's time to ban it. The cost to our health, our air, our insurance rates and the cost of lives lost is staggering. It's no longer anyone's right to subject the rest of us to that. It's time to stop it everywhere. Here's how to stop it: Make a $10 per pack tax that individual states can spend however they want and make cigarette smuggling a federal crime.

January 12, 2004 Quit Bugging Me Topic #15 - Sometimes it's your own damn fault People who show up 20 minutes after a movie's start time have lost the right to complain to the theater about missing the show. Yes, some people actually do this. Some people even tell coworkers about the injustice of it all and expect sympathy. If this is you, I am amazed you were able find the theater, let alone read the names of the movies. Yes, you deserve pity, but not for missing the movie.

November 17, 2003 Quit Bugging Me Topic #14 - Prisoners' Right to be Cool I was speaking to a school teacher recently and she spoke to me about an upsetting incident. On a sweltering September day, a teacher was fed up with the lack of air conditioning in the classroom and decided to fix the problem (as is the case will all problems teachers face) by herself. She brought a window A/C unit from home and cooled the sauna that was the classroom for her nearly 40 students. Aaah. Sweet relief. Then a school administrator came along and unplugged it. "You're not allowed to have that," the administrator said. "It's too expensive." End of story. Nice. Let's let our children (and those who accept the lousy pay to teach them) suffer, meanwhile the government finds the funds to keep the air nice and comfortable for the convicts at the prison, and for the legislators' offices up on the hill, too. I hate whiners who don't have a solution. Well here's one: Turn off the A/C at the prisons and the offices of the elected officials to pay for the electricity at the schools! And while we're at it, cut the officials pay to be equal dollars-per-hour to that of a teacher! Roads are important. Traffic lights are important, but what the hell is more important the giving the population a good education?! Stop killing time declaring an 'official state beverage' and do something useful - hell, visit a classroom and teach for a few days. That ought to clear your head. There's an idea - A Utah "Make a Legislator Teach for a Week" Week. See what policy does on the ground level. See what they think of having to buy lined paper out of their own pocket. Let them explain why textbooks show Ronald Regan as the President. We could expand this to Senators, School Board members, even the Governor. Anyone with me on this?

November 5, 2003 Quit Bugging Me Topic #13 - Prisoners' Right to Vote Attention prisoners who want the right to vote: Do you know why you are incarcerated? Because you chose to break the rules of society. By breaking the social contract society was forced to remove you from it. You are not part of society while in prison. That's the point. We don't want you if you can't play by the rules. If you don't play by the rules, then I don't give a damn what you think of Proposition 3 or which candidate you want for the city council, because you are no longer part of society. You chose to ignore our rules, so don't be so wounded now that we ingore you. Breaking the law was your choice, not mine. As to the convicted felons who have paid their debt in full, I don't see why you should be denied the right to vote. In fact, as a member of society, I think you should be encouraged to participate.

Past Blogs October 2003 September 2003 August 2003

---

bjolleyemail.com | home